GunfleetSand
Active member
Racism perhaps?
Ethnic minorities and sailing.
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Laminar Flow
Well-known member
In the Bahamas there is a lively and highly competitive sailing scene, racing traditional Bahamian sloops. Nearly all the crews and certainly the most successful ones are of African descent.
In Abu Dhabi they race traditional dows.
In Abu Dhabi they race traditional dows.
Babylon
Well-known member
Anecdote:
I went to an inner city school which had a swimming pool. The school was socially and ethnically very mixed. All the boys had swimming lessons. I never knew anyone who couldn't swim. Then, aged about 19, I got friendly with a guy I'd met at a karate class, an Indian medical student whose family had fled here from East Africa, Tanzania I seem to recall, when he was in his early teens (you can look up the reasons why). He later joined us on a holiday to Greece. On arrival at the hotel we all changed and ran into the sea. He would only go in as far as his ankles - it never occurred to me that he'd never learnt to swim. Later still, having a beer in a London pub on a hot summer's evening, overhearing some racist language, I learnt exactly why he'd joined the karate class! I'd joined to learn an interesting sporting discipline, he'd joined to learn to defend himself!
The things that don't occur to us, eh?
I went to an inner city school which had a swimming pool. The school was socially and ethnically very mixed. All the boys had swimming lessons. I never knew anyone who couldn't swim. Then, aged about 19, I got friendly with a guy I'd met at a karate class, an Indian medical student whose family had fled here from East Africa, Tanzania I seem to recall, when he was in his early teens (you can look up the reasons why). He later joined us on a holiday to Greece. On arrival at the hotel we all changed and ran into the sea. He would only go in as far as his ankles - it never occurred to me that he'd never learnt to swim. Later still, having a beer in a London pub on a hot summer's evening, overhearing some racist language, I learnt exactly why he'd joined the karate class! I'd joined to learn an interesting sporting discipline, he'd joined to learn to defend himself!
The things that don't occur to us, eh?
oldmanofthehills
Well-known member
As I commented coastal people sail. That includes many more percentage of folk from Britain and W Europe than the hinterlands of india and asia which are hundred of miles from the sea.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Oops. Sorry.
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Kurrawong_Kid
Well-known member
I am a member of a Club in inner city in the Midlands. Our junior section has had several youngsters (girls) from Asian backgrounds who have keenly learnt to sail and showed promise. Whether they reappear in the "new normal" is anyone's guess as it is for people from other backgrounds.
LadyInBed
Well-known member
You should have attended some of our Scuttlebutt Cherbourg get togethers ?
dom
Well-known member
? Including the time we all laughed when you came below to announce that the Port Police rib was alongside!
And you said, "No, they really are!"
Gendarme asked if I had checked the passports of everyone aboard, but when he found out 20+ were sampling Carrefour's finest below and when he saw the growing bag of beer empties, I think he decided to scrap the formalities
differentroads
Active member
Nailed it Kelpie. No-one should get too upset about not being perfectly PC though. We're all on a journey from wherever we came from (a very racist family in the 70s in my case. We've all moved on since, that survive). Just as I'm learning new things about boats and sailing after 40 years of doing it, I'm learning new things about the perspectives and experiences of people from a variety of BAME backgrounds and cultures, personalities, experiences and the myriad stuff that makes us the individuals that we are.
From the original post, my experience is that of the three black friends that came sailing with me over the past 8 years, all have enjoyed it, all get the sailing thing, and none had sufficient interest to want to buy a boat or go sailing other than with me. Exactly the same with my white friends as it happens. Sorry, a bit of a non sequiteur there. Except that swimming had nothing to do with it (and I speak as someone whose body density is such that I float feet down with a waterline between my nostrils and eyeballs) ?
Laminar Flow
Well-known member
The inclination of a people to go sailing probably has more to do with tradition, culture, wealth and lastly, opportunity, rather than a propensity to engage in swimming as a sport.
I doubt very much that the traditional fisherman had much of a notion of the pleasures of sailing; more likely one of hard work, misery, danger and poverty.
To quote an old Newfoundland fisherman: "Any man who goes to sea for pleasure, would just as likely go to hell for a past time."
Sailing only became a past time when a moneyed leisure class was able to attach a romanticized vision to the miserable job of seafaring, as expressed in art, literature, popular culture and consequently, sport, from which much of a euro-centric world has never recovered; myself included.
To wonder why people, who only quite recently managed to free themselves from the shackles of colonial oppression and poverty, may not have quite the same interest or cultural inclination to engage in the "sport of Kings" is either shockingly self-absorbed or disingenuous.
Boating really only became "popular" after the second world war in Europe and the US with the general rise in prosperity and availability of leisure time.
I doubt very much that the traditional fisherman had much of a notion of the pleasures of sailing; more likely one of hard work, misery, danger and poverty.
To quote an old Newfoundland fisherman: "Any man who goes to sea for pleasure, would just as likely go to hell for a past time."
Sailing only became a past time when a moneyed leisure class was able to attach a romanticized vision to the miserable job of seafaring, as expressed in art, literature, popular culture and consequently, sport, from which much of a euro-centric world has never recovered; myself included.
To wonder why people, who only quite recently managed to free themselves from the shackles of colonial oppression and poverty, may not have quite the same interest or cultural inclination to engage in the "sport of Kings" is either shockingly self-absorbed or disingenuous.
Boating really only became "popular" after the second world war in Europe and the US with the general rise in prosperity and availability of leisure time.
Vid
Active member
Either you lot are living in an enclave or I'm in one: my mate Steve, who's originally from Huddersfield but whose parents are from the Caribbean, has his Day Skipper and he comes along on our annual sailing trips to the Med and does plenty of sailing on the Solent, his kids are keen and his family go sailing with him and enjoy it We also have a wide diversity of people at our yacht club too, including people of Middle-Eastern, South Asian, East Asian, Caribbean, and African heritage, though not as many as we'd like. My regular crew on races is called Mustafa and he's been on the water for years.
Next you'll be saying you've not seen any LGBT+ sailors on the water!
Next you'll be saying you've not seen any LGBT+ sailors on the water!
ryanroberts
Well-known member
Fairly large number of Lesbians on narrowboats, big flannel shirt outdoor aesthetic. I am yet to encounter more than 20 sailors in the UK as it's been like 2 weeks with a boat and the marina is half closed so can't really comment there.
Minchsailor
Well-known member
Wow, that is stereotyping!.
dom
Well-known member
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
Do they sport separate ensigns or is it more like class flags?
Quite a few but not always obvious: LGBTQ+
I was watching a programme last night about Britain changing the law towards Homosexuals. There was a commission established to review the law in the 50's and three types were assumed A) Pansys, B) Pederasts C) Homosexual. How times change.
V1701
Well-known member
Well in terms of boat ownership almost exclusively middle aged and older white guys, just like us!
ryanroberts
Well-known member
Yes, often accurate too if incomplete like most stereotypes. Or at least it was, advertisers like Subaru built whole aspirational brands on it. I grew up in the 80s women's peace movement, hippie self sufficiency projects etc.. Recently read a thing about how the members of women's camps and rural communal retreats that were popular in the 70s and 80s are aging out as their culture changes, possibly due to increased acceptance.
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ryanroberts
Well-known member
It's remarkable how weirdo niche lifestyles attract a non representative subset of the population.
Blue Sunray
Well-known member
Do they sport separate ensigns or is it more like class flags?
Good bunch from my interaction with them when a rally came through our marina, in contrast to one of the smaller marques owners clubs who were around at a similar time who were a bunch of scruffy, loud pensioners who behaved like they owned the place.
